ABUL KHAIR STEEL PRODUCTS LTD: Company Case Study 
                                                                                  

ABUL KHAIR STEEL PRODUCTS LIMITED

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Abul Khair Steel Products Ltd (AKSP) is a newly established large metal finishing plant in
Bangladesh, that produces a range of steel products, such as cold rolled (CR) coils, galvanized
steel (GS) sheets and corrugated galvanized iron (CGI) sheets. AKSP was established in 1999
as a private limited company and currently employs about 650 staff, with large expatriate
technical team, mostly from India. The installed production capacity of the plant is 150,000
tons CGI sheets and 300,000 tons CR coils per year. Actual production for the base year 2002
was 130,943 tons. Due to steep increase in steel prices and competition in the market, demand
for their products is low and the company is operating at 50% lower than the installed
capacity. As a result, their total production was only 85,000 tons in 2004. The company’s
production is mostly for the domestic market but is also exported to 13 countries. AKSP
recently obtained ISO 9001: 2000 certification.

High electricity consumption is a major concern and for this reason top management decided
to participate in the GERIAP project.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The plant’s main raw material is hot rolled (HR) coils, which is imported from Japan, Korea,
India and Russia. Major production process steps are Pickling, Cold Rolling, Annealing,
Galvanizing and Corrugating. A short description of the major steps is given below and a
process flow chart is shown on the next page.

ƒ Pickling: Hot rolled coils have a layer of oxide on their surface. Pickling ensure removal
of surface oxides by chemical treatment using hydrochloric acid, prior to the cold rolling
process. Production lines have an edge-trimming facility and built-in features to avoid
under/over pickling. For high production of strips of 1.2 mm to 6.5 mm thickness,
continuous lines are used. In these lines, strip accumulators allow coils to be loaded and
unloaded while the strip continues to run through the pickling section. The lines are
normally operated by integrated mill operators and are mainly used to pickle strips prior
to cold rolling.
ƒ Cold Rolling: The objective of cold rolling is to improve the surface finish, to obtain
smaller and more uniform thickness. Cold worked products tend to be very hard and
possess great strength. The process consists of reducing thickness of hot rolled coils to
desired thickness in several steps (according to a set schedule).
ƒ Annealing: After the cold rolling process steel is very hard and the annealing process
aims to improve the steel’s formability properties and microstructure. Next, the annealed
cold rolled steel coils are suppressed to remove wrinkles and achieve flatness depending
on customers’ requirements. In addition, electrical steels are given about 7-8% critical
reduction to improve their magnetic properties.
ƒ Galvanizing: Galvanizing is the process of electrically coating the surface of the iron
with a layer of zinc. Zinc reacts with the iron molecules in the steel to form galvanized
steel. The external layer is zinc, but successive layers are a mixture of zinc and iron, and
the interior is pure steel. Galvanizing dramatically increases the resistance of the iron to
corrosion, transforming it into a durable material.

1  Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia – www.energyefficiencyasia.org 
 

ƒ Corrugating and Packaging: Galvanized plain sheets are transferred to the converting
and finishing section for cutting the sheet as per customer requirement; corrugated in the
Corrugation line as a final product; and dispatched to the packaging section.

Figure 1: Process Flow Chart of AKSP

HR Coil

Pickling

CR Coil

Annealing

Hot-deep Galvanizing

Cooling

Skin Pass

Chromating

Leveling & Shearing

GP Coils

GP Coils

Shearing Line

GP Sheets Packaging & Dispatch

Corrugating

GC Sheets

2
                            Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia– www.energyefficiencyasia.org                                    
  
ABUL KHAIR STEEL PRODUCTS LTD: Company Case Study 
                                                                                  
METHODOLOGY APPLICATION

The draft Company Energy Efficiency Methodology was used as a basis for the plant
assessment to identify and implement options to reduce energy and other materials and
wastes. Some of the interesting experiences are:

ƒ Task 1a - Meeting with top management: Based on the meeting with top management
and the completion of the Energy Management Matrix, it appeared that the company has
some energy and environmental initiatives in place, but these are mostly informal. Some
of the recommendations made to management to strengthen overall environmental
management included to establish:
• A well documented energy and environmental policy with clear objectives,
responsibilities and targets
• An organizational diagram for the company with clear responsibilities for energy and
environment
• Appropriate awareness, motivational and promotional schemes to encourage
production staff to come up with suggestions on how to improve energy efficiency
• A documented monitoring system that includes an information flow from production
to top management
• Improved good housekeeping practices to prevent soil and ground water
contamination.
• Development of an environmental management system with the possibility of
accreditation to ISO14001 in the future
Lesson learnt: the meeting with top management is useful to identify what is needed from an
energy management perspective to ensure energy efficiency improvements will continue in
the future.

ƒ Task 2c – Walkthrough of focus areas: During the walkthrough, the plant’s Team,
external facilitators from Bangladesh and an international consultant made several
observations that immediately resulted in the some obvious options to improve energy
efficiency. Some of the observations and options were:
• There is no insulation material on steam pipe valves and fittings and insulation on
some pipelines is absent. Option: insulate all steam pipelines, valves and fittings
• There is no condensate recovery on the main pickling line. Option: install an
economizer on the boiler to preheat feed water using return condensate at high
temperature
• One bore well pump is running continuously to supply water, but when water is not
needed it has to be stored. Option: install a float valve controller to enable
intermittent bore well operation so that water is only pumped up when it is needed
• Cold water recycling pumps operate all the time even when the cold rolling mill is
shut off. Option: turn off the main pumps on the rolling mills when the mills are off-
line
Lesson learnt: the walkthrough of focus areas can generate a lot of options that would not
have been identified otherwise.

ƒ Task 5a – Implement options and monitor results: As a separate option outside of the
GERIAP project, the plant is commissioning a US$ 1 million acid (spent pickling)
regeneration unit, which is in its final stage of civil structure completion and hardware has
already been received. The plant was designed for 2.5 ton of HCl per hour considering the
production and planned expansion 3 years back. However, the plant currently operates at less
than 50% of installed capacity, and therefore the regeneration unit will also be underutilized.
This means that the actual payback period of the unit will be significantly longer than

3  Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia – www.energyefficiencyasia.org 
 

estimated. The management can consider offering the excess capacity to regenerate acid from
other companies to recover the investment costs faster.
Lesson learnt: Changes in market demand have an influence on production output and
therefore can significantly influence the actual payback period of implemented options.

ƒ Task 5a – Implement options and monitor results: When the company was revisited
after implementation of options, company management reported that due to a steep increase
in steel prices and increased competition, the market demand is low and as a result the
company is presently operating at less than 50% installed capacity. As a result, energy
consumption and GHG emissions had reduced since the start of the project but specific
consumption and GHG emissions had increased. In such a situation it is difficult to determine
the impact of implemented options because the data are influenced by a reduced capacity
utilization of the plant. Specific consumption and emission data (i.e. per unit of product) were
used to compare the before and after situation.
Lesson learnt: It is important to determine if there were major changes in production figures
before and after the implementation of options, as this will significantly influence the changes
in energy and GHG emissions. If this is the case, specific consumption and emission data
(rather than absolute data) should be used.

ƒ Step 6 – Continuous improvement: At the completion of the project the plant had not yet
implemented the energy management recommendations made during the first meeting
with top management. The plant can continue on an ad hoc basis to implement more
energy efficiency options, but recognizes that without a certain level of energy
management system it will be difficult to ensure continuous improvement.
Lesson learnt: a certain minimum level of energy management system is necessary to ensure a
company will continue to improve energy efficiency in the future.

OPTIONS

ƒ The focus area selected were: (1) Steam system, (2) Water distribution system, (3) Heat
Recovery Galvanizing Furnace and (4) Electricity system
ƒ A total of 12 options were identified:
• 2 options (Install capacitor bank and Turn off main pumps on rolling mills when
mills are off line) were implemented fully, 1 option (Leak repair and insulation
improvement) was partially implemented, and 6 options are still to be implemented
• 2 options (Heat recovery from Galvanizing Furnace and Electricity Conservation and
Cogeneration) require further analysis
• 1 option (Main Pickling Line Heat Recovery) was found unfeasible and was rejected
by plant management
ƒ For the two fully and one partially implemented options, the total investment was US$
51,667, annual savings were US$ 249,200, and the payback period was #
ƒ For the two fully and one partially implemented options, the total electricity savings were
48 MWh, natural gas savings were 66,360 NM3, and greenhouse gas emission reductions
were 163 tons CO2
ƒ As a result of the options implemented, the plant’s GHG emission was reduced by 163
tons CO2, which accounted for about 0.58% reduction in the total GHG emissions
(27,947 tons CO2 in 2002) of the company.

4
                            Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia– www.energyefficiencyasia.org                                    
  
ABUL KHAIR STEEL PRODUCTS LTD: Company Case Study 
                                                                                  
Table: EXAMPLES OF OPTIONS IDENTIFIED AND IMPLEMENTED

FOCUS AREA/ CP FINANCIAL ENVIRONMEN COMMENTS

OPTION TECHNIQUE FEASIBILITY TAL BENEFITS

Water distribution Good ƒ Investment: ƒ Electricity Company

system/ housekeeping none savings: 48 management
Keeping main ƒ Cost savings: MWh/yr decided to have
pumps on rolling US$ 3,200 ƒ GHG emission pumps turned of
mills turned off ƒ Payback reduction: 26 manually instead
when mills are period: N/A tCO2/yr of with an
offline (see case electronic sensor
study)
Electricity Production ƒ Investment: ƒ Energy An improve
system/ process/ US$ 50,000 saving: none power factor does
Installation of equipment ƒ Cost savings: ƒ GHG emission not result in lower
capacitor bank to modification US$ 240,000 reduction: none electricity
improve power ƒ Payback consumption, but
factor (see case period: 2.5 in reduced peak
study) months load demand and
therefore reduced
penalty fines
Recover acid for New equipment ƒ Investment: ƒ Energy Option was being
regeneration /technology US$ 1 million saving: not implemented at
ƒ Cost savings: determined time of writing
not ƒ GHG
determined emissions
savings: not
determined
Steam system/ Good ƒ Investment: ƒ Natural gas Option was
Leak repair and housekeeping US$ 1,667 savings: partially
insulation ƒ Cost savings: 63,360 NM3 implemented. If
improvement of US$ 6,000/yr /yr implemented fully
steam distribution ƒ Payback ƒ GHG annual savings
system (see case period: 3.5 emission could be up to
study) months reduction: US$ 66,666
137 tCO2/yr
ƒ Water
savings
Steam system / Onsite reuse / ƒ Investment: ƒ Energy Option was not
Recovering heat recovery US$ 5,000 savings: not implemented due
from condensate ƒ Cost savings: known to concerns of
using heat US$ 10,500/yr ƒ GHG emission acid mixing with
exchanger (see ƒ Payback reduction: 243 recovered
case study) period: 6 tCO2/yr condensate which
months would disrupt
production
process

5  Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia – www.energyefficiencyasia.org 
 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

GERIAP National Focal Point of Bangladesh

Mr. M Saidul Haq, President
Institute for Management Consultants Bangladesh (IMCB)
396 New Eskaton Road
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Tel: +880-2-9353350-4, 9351102
Fax: +880-2-9351103
E-mail: srgb@consultant.com
Web: www.srgb.org

GERIAP Company in Bangladesh

Mr. K K Soni
General Manager
Abul Khair Steel Products Ltd
Kadamrasul, Sitakund
Chittagong, Bangladesh
Tel: +880-31-752769-71
E-mail: aksp@spectnet.com, aksp@globalctg.net

Disclaimer:
This case study was prepared as part of the project “Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction from Industry in Asia
and the Pacific” (GERIAP). While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this
publication are factually correct, UNEP does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the
contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the
use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. © UNEP, 2006.

6
                            Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia– www.energyefficiencyasia.org